When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers traded for Jason Pierre-Paul from the New York Giants they knew they were getting a good player. He has been Mr. Consistent since joining the NFL and they know what he is going to be on the field for them.

The one thing they have been presently surprised with is how much of a leadership role he has already taken on with the team and how hard he works every day in practice.

“Very pleasant surprise,” Bucs coach Dirk Koetter said, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “I guess I wasn’t expecting JPP to be the practice player and the leader that he’s been so far. Really fired up about it. Sometimes a guy that’s got his pedigree comes in and is looking for way out of drills and that’s not him at all.

The Bucs held joint practices with the Tennesee Titans this week and Pierre-Paul was consistently getting by one of the better offensive linemen in the league, Taylor Lewan.

Pierre-Paul is from Tampa Bay and attended college at the University of South Florida so this is a homecoming for him and according to his teammates, he is really happy to be back home.

“Him being in Tampa where he grew up is really important to him,” quarterback Jameis Winston said. “You can tell that he really loves football and being a great veteran guy, we look up to guys like that and we love his tenacity and enthusiasm, bringing it from the Giants.”